Troll review: Norway has its own city-smashing Godzilla

“You may have thought that these were special effects,” Norway’s prime minister tells her nation in a televised address late in Netflix’s import action movie TrollThis is news footage showing a giant troll walking across the nation. “But this is not a fairy tale,” she says. “This is Realität.” There’s a flash of meta humor in that line, because the monster, with its busy beard, bulbous nose, and glowering expression, really does look like a cartoony but well-designed special effect. There just isn’t a particularly realistic way to depict a 50-meter humanoid creature made of “earth and stone,” leaving Godzilla-style destruction in its wake. Still, TrollThis movie is not to be mistaken with 1986 American horror film of the same title or its unrelated but equally terrible sequel, and it’s more of an honest monster movie than a joke.

Leaving aside the self-aware aspect of a movie character insisting her movie story is “real,” the film’s troll isn’t a fairy-tale creature reimagined with the quasi-scientific explanations of a ’90s-style techno thriller or eco-disaster movie, or redesigned to look more natural. The film looks as if it had come straight from a book. Despite its reference to Norwegian mythology TrollIt owes American disaster films as much as old Japanese kaiju photos.

In his home country, director Roar Uthaug has made a slasher movie, a children’s Christmas feature, and a historical thriller. But he’s probably best known for The WaveThe larger scale disaster film, with his muscular, sleek physique. Tomb Raider reboot starring Alicia Vikander. In other words, he’s taken several cracks at Hollywood-style entertainment, in his home country and abroad. TrollLike The WaveIt feels more like a stripped-down Roland Emmerich blockbuster. Specifically, it resembles Emmerich’s 1998 version of GodzillaReconfigured to increase speed and efficiency

It might sound rather low-rent and, at the worst, completely unneeded. There are many benefits to getting rid of Hollywood-approved fat while still maintaining some gee-whiz power. First, Troll This is the essence of the matter: The government hires Nora Tidemann (IneMarie Wilmann), a paleontologist, to assist them after a mysterious incident that leaves what appear to be huge footprints on the Norwegian landscape. Nora is reunited with Tobias, her ex-father (Gard B. Eidsvold), who was a folklore professor and has lost track of his fervent belief that mountain trolls exist. Another Emmerich-beloved cliché is the conspiracy-addled oddo who proves to be right. It could possibly stand temporary retirement.

Image: Jallo Faber/Netflix

The father-daughter material is pretty thin, as are the characters’ supporting allies: government nerd Andreas (Kim Falck), military man Kris Holm (Mads Sjøgård Pettersen), and token hacker Sigrid (Karoline Viktoria Sletteng Garvang). However, the ensemble has a warm and likable vibe. Their comic relief bits, even the most silly ones, are more grounded than those of Emmerich and Michael Bay. The movie also refuses to put a complicated McGuffin on the simplicity of its monster-movie: For reasons that humans can’t understand, a giant troll is headed toward Oslo. At least, until the two-thirds mark. They need to stop it from stomping on people, and they’re not sure how.

It is a problem because there is no clear goal. Troll’s dramatic momentum in spots. It’s hard to get invested in the obligatory clash between the outsiders and the military when neither party seems to have an opinion on what’s best to do in this situation, or even what the options are. What can you do to stop the trolls? It is worth studying. It is possible to befriend him. Because the film is not filled with sci-fi moral dilemmas that are well-reported, the troll remains in the realms of fairy tales.

At times, Troll feels like it’s rebuking the very idea that monster movies might require any form of depth or metaphor. According to legend, the trolls fought against Christianity in Norway 1,000 years ago. The resurrected, troll can be seen recoiling at the sound and smell of Christian blood. But the movie ultimately doesn’t make much of these historically rooted details, in terms of how they relate to fears or clashing cultures. At one point, a character we barely know gives a rousing speech to a bunch of characters we don’t know at all, as if a little bit of inspirational yelling about not giving into fear will conjure a theme from material that appears actively averse to symbolism or subtext.

Image: Jallo Faber/Netflix

However, it is not as simple as that. Troll is a well-made giant-monster movie: The special effects look good, the action is legibly captured by Uthaug’s camera, and the monster has awesome destructive power that he depicts as if trolls are ornery animals rather than spiteful villains. Even the monster’s official introduction, 30 minutes or so into the movie, is handled as a clever framing trick, rather than the subject of endlessly protracted Spielbergian awe. Roar Uthaug is not a director who seems destined for greater, grander epics, and that’s one of his best qualities. His B-movies are polished and without any of the awe-inspiring A-list splendor.

TrollNetflix streaming available now